Mary, Lady MacCarthy (August 1882 – 29 December 1953) was a British writer; known for her involvement in the "

Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group—or Bloomsbury Set—was a group of associated English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the first half of the 20th century, including Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton Strac ...

", and commonly called Molly. She was born Mary Warre-Cornish in Lynton, Devon; the daughter of schoolmaster and man of letters

Francis Warre Warre-Cornish Francis Warre Warre-Cornish (8 May 1839 – 28 August 1916) was a British schoolmaster, scholar and writer. Life He was the son of Hubert Kestell Cornish, vicar of Bakewell, and his wife Louisa Warre, daughter of Francis Warre (1775–1854), and ...

by his wife, Blanche. In 1906 she married the literary critic Sir

Desmond MacCarthy Sir Charles Otto Desmond MacCarthy FRSL (20 May 1877 – 7 June 1952) was a British writer and the foremost literary critic, literary and dramatic critic of his day. He was a member of the Cambridge Apostles, the intellectual secret society, fro ...

, with whom she had two sons, Michael and Dermod, and a daughter, Rachel (later Lady David Cecil). Though prevented by progressive hearing-loss from full participation in group conversation, she was active in the Bloomsbury group, as demonstrated by her formation of its Memoir group and Novel group, and by coining the term "Bloomsberries" to describe its members. Her sister Cecilia married

William Wordsworth Fisher Admiral Sir William Wordsworth Fisher (26 March 1875 – 24 June 1937) was a Royal Navy officer who captained a battleship at the Battle of Jutland and became Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet. Arthur Marder wrote that he was "the ...

later Admiral. Her daughter Rachel married the biographer David Cecil. Grave of Sir Desmond MacCarthy

She died at Hampton, Middlesex of heart failure, and is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge, with her husband.

Sources

* ''The Bloomsbury Group: A Collection of Memoirs and Commentary'', ed. S. P. Rosenbaum (University of Toronto Press, revised edition, 1995). * ''Clever hearts: Desmond and Molly MacCarthy: a biography'', by Hugh and Mirabel Cecil (Gollancz, 1990).

Selected bibliography

* ''

A Pier and a Band A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'' (1918) * ''

A Nineteenth Century Childhood A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'' (1924) * ''

Fighting Fitzgerald and Other Papers Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...

'' (1930) * '' Handicaps: Six Studies'' (1936) * '' The Festival, Etc.'' (1937)

External links

* 1882 births 1953 deaths Bloomsbury Group English women novelists 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English novelists Wives of knights {{England-painter-stub